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If one thinks that passing a bill no one understands is "an awesome achievement," then the Senate health care vote is shaping up to be super-duper awesome with a side of awesome, followed by an awesome dessert. I suppose that we could add more awesomeness to the pile by pointing out the $100 million bribe that Ben Nelson of Nebraska got in exchange for his vote--a bribe he tried to blame Nebraska's Republican governor for, before that same Republican governor went out and stated unequivocally that he had nothing to do with the nature of Nelson's deal with other Senate Democrats.

Future bouts of awesomeness are perhaps in the offing, with the likes of Paul Krugman calling for an end to the filibuster in the Senate, which Krugman never bothered to do during the last Administration, because his reasoning is that while it is bad and anti-majoritarian to oppose Democratic Presidents, an excuse can always be found to oppose Republican ones. Of course, Krugman reveals that he doesn't understand the nature of the Senate, which is designed to slow down, and rein in the often-populist impulses of the House. According to Krugman, we should have two chambers of Congress prone to populism, not one. This is clearly against the vision of the Founders; when Thomas Jefferson asked George Washington what the purpose of the Senate was, Washington retorted by asking Jefferson why the latter poured his tea in a saucer. "To cool it," Jefferson replied. "Even so," replied Washington, "we pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it."

The filibuster has developed as a way to help cool the passions behind legislation, in order to ensure that the legislation that is passed is legislation that does not rely excessively on hotter populist impulses to propel it. But leave it to Paul Krugman to tell us all that he knows better than the likes of Washington and Jefferson.

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